Crayfish
/ˈkreɪ.fɪʃ/noun
A freshwater crustacean with a segmented body and claws, resembling a small lobster.
Did you know?The English word is a classic folk-etymology reshaping of Old French escrevisse, and the same crabby root also survives in English in the word caviar’s distant linguistic neighborhood of crustacean names.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*krep-
“to bend, crawl”
Late Latin
Latin
*cambarus / *cancer?
“Crustacean-related forms were used in later Romance development, but the exact chain is debated”
Old French
OF
escrevisse
“crayfish; freshwater crustacean”
Middle English
English
crevise, crevis, crayfish
“Crayfish; the second element was reanalyzed as fish”
Modern English
English
crayfish
“A freshwater crustacean, especially one resembling a small lobster”